We are delighted that our wattle fence made it through the winter in good shape (in spite of the record breaking snow fall). Spring clean up and planting has begun in preparation for the Garden Opening Concert on June 7 at 2 pm- 4 pm. Nota Bene will perform “Ah, Amaryllis! Songs of Love and Spring from the English Renaissance.” No reservations needed. Refreshments co-sponsored by The Amherst Woman’s Club. Please feel free to bring your refreshments outside after the concert and enjoy a stroll through our gardens!

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Here is our wattle fence during the winter

this spring, we grew new annual herb and vegetable plants in the Stockbridge School of Agriculture greenhouses

UMass students used the garden plan created last year to plant new herb and vegetable plants in 2015

The UMass Student Farming crew cleaned up the garden and planted the seedlings on a rainy day in early June

The garden is shaping up – Lots of perennials from the previous year are doing well

The Renaissance kitchen garden is well underway for its second growing season! Here is a look at my historic garden design and updated botanical list for this year. New design features include a “hops archway”, two decorative main entrance gates and three small gates to enter from throughout the garden. Also installed is a new pea trellis for the large English peas.

*See below for my letter and updates to garden visitors and interested parties for 2014.

Dear Renaissance Kitchen Garden Visitors, summer, 2014 Welcome to the second growing season of the 16th Century Renaissance kitchen garden recreation at the UMass Renaissance Center. This spring has been a busy time for new plant and design additions in the kitchen garden. The garden is full of “firsts” as the now established perennials really hold their ground. Beginning in February, students in my course Ethnobotany of the Renaisscance, were busy setting seeds in a snow covered UMass greenhouse while studying plant-use in Northern Renaissance Europe. The plants grew well and provided first-hand examples as botany lessons for students. The plants eventually made their way to the UMass Renaissance center where they were planted and additional seeds were sown. In addition to the 48 plants already present in the garden, sixteen more have been added for a total of 64 annual and perennial plant species. Many of the additions are perennial and include such wonderful herbs as licorice, elecampane, blue fenugreek, arnica, anise, valerian and more common plants such as nettle, true mint and broadleaf plantain. Angelica and valerian are planted together in the far hedge bed near the wormwood and mugwort. Last fall I added more allium family with two varieties of heirloom garlic that seem very happy in their beds. It is always my goal to source plants as accurate to the time period as possible. This year I was able to source older varieties of dry beans named Mayflower and Hutterite soup bean that are just now beginning to sprout. When you look through the yard towards the kitchen garden you may notice something different. Is your eye drawn to anything tall? The wooden hops archway of my original design is now officially in place at the main entrance, as are the two main gates that artistically close the wattle fence. This large rustic gate and three smaller gates were designed and built by Aaron Evan-Browning, who also constructed the entire wattle fence last season. Enter at the main gate to walk through the first hop-flower catkins and climbing vines of the old kent and fuggle hop varieties. A trellis for the long reaching English peas has also been added in the far corner. This champion pea variety can grow well-over ten feet high with the right support.Another new part to this year’s kitchen garden is the staff. Due to a physical injury, I will be taking a leave from the Renaissance kitchen garden this season. While I am away I have placed caretaking/maintenance of the garden in the good hands of a student of mine named Ruth diBuono and additional help from UMass farm student interns. Feel free to say hello if you see them working in the garden. It is hard for me to pause this season when the Renaissance garden is fully establishing. The plants I have grown and cared for, the garden I designed and built are now thriving and full of life that I want to share in. But injuries can be part of life too. I will return to check on the progress of this year’s growth at the end of August and thereafter.Please visit the Renaissance kitchen garden at the UMass Renaissance Center whenever you wish during the Renaissance Center’s open hours. There is always something sprouting, blooming or buzzing in the kitchen garden. The captivating purple and pink flowers of the bugloss, seemingly always ripe alpine strawberries, new seedlings and aroma of herbs and fresh straw paths help to calm a hectic day, into a not so common historical moment. Thank you for your interest in the 16th Century Renaissance kitchen garden at the UMass Renaissance Center and I look forward to seeing you again. Please see the Renaissance kitchen garden’s Botanical List inside the Gardens and Grounds folder for a complete list of plants found in this recreation and a corresponding guide map.

After a long winter (and long spring too), the Massachusetts Renaissance Garden is “coming back to life.” The perennial plants are doing well and the annuals (herbs and vegetables) will be planted during the next two weeks. The wattle fence will be completed soon and a trellis is going up to support the hopps. Today, the Stockbridge School of Agriculture student farmers showed up to pull some weeds and help get the garden ready for planting.

It’s seems like just yesterday when I finished putting the Renaissance kitchen garden to bed for the season. In the cold of late November I was cutting down perennials and spreading ample amounts of hay and straw in the garden for winter protection. I left some root crops like carrots, beets and turnips to overwinter. We’ll see how they fare in the spring.

This winter I am busy preparing to teach a course I designed around the garden as well as planning for a new seed order, etc. It has been my pleasure to bring you news and pictures of the UMass Renaissance center’s Kitchen Garden this season. Check back after winter for more information about next season’s garden, plants added and more!

“Keep your faith in beautiful things;
in the sun when it is hidden,
in the Spring when it is gone.”
– Roy R. Gibson

The Stockbridge School of Agriculture is pleased to be able to offer a new class in the spring semester focused on the Renaissance Center Garden. It is:

STOCKSCH 297 ER – Ethnobotany of the Renaissance

… will be taught by our head gardener and educator, Jennie Bergeron. The syllabus for the class is presented below. This is a two-credit class which will meet on Monday afternoons from 2:30pm – 4:25pm during the spring semester.

Course Description: This course is a hands on learning experience rooted in the UMass Renaissance Center’s 16th century kitchen garden. Students explore historic gardens with a focus of Renaissance era plants and their cultural uses.

Student Learning Objectives:

Class discussions of culinary, medicinal and utilitarian use of plants in the Renaissance with a focus on the common population and comparing the same plants in modern times.

Students will grow Renaissance era plants in the greenhouse and participate in hands on outdoor learning at the UMass Renaissance Center’s 16th century kitchen garden and participate in ongoing plans for the garden project.

Students will complete a botanically focused project based on their own research. Course includes at least one field trip.

The Renaissance kitchen garden continues to wind down with the fall season. Annuals have been harvested and or taken their leave as the frost nips its way into increasingly cold nights. We are lucky to be in both a high and tree protected area at the Renaissance center, which has kept the frost at bay and extended the harvest season some. The fields just below the house are commonly strewn with frost, while the garden stays somewhat untouched.

Last week showed the first true signs of frost damage on the remaining dry beans and green foliage like the fennel, that are tender. But the mugwort and hyssop, feverfew, tansy and primrose just keep on blooming away, not yet plucked by frost.

-Primrose in October

The garden will soon be put to be completely for the winter. Over the past two weeks I have been mulching thickly with straw, replenishing the pathways, trimming back plants for the season, seed saving, harvesting and planting two varieties of heirloom garlic!

-Mulched beds with straw

The most amazing sight as of late is the abundance of strawberries- in October! We are lucky to have a center circle of alpine strawberries on the more geometric side of the garden. Unlike local cultivated strawberries that fruit for a short season, alpine strawberries fruit for the entire growing season, gifting us with unusual strawberry cheer in the fall.

-Strawberries in October

Root vegetables and herbs were harvested this week for the harvest banquet put on by the Renaissance center. Huge purple top turnips, St. Valery carrot, beets, onions, giant leeks and a variety of herbs were harvested to contribute to the banquet menu. I plan to leave some roots in for the winter, as they will sweeten in the cold ground.

Purple Top Turnip

Some of the Root Harvest

Mama Beet

Huge Turnips

Scotch Flag Giant Leeks

Check in again here to find out more about the end of season at the UMass Renaissance Centers Kitchen garden.

Aaron Evan-Browning has been working hard through September and October to complete the wattle fence that he started in July. The fence itself and three of the four gates are complete and look great! The largest gate at the main entrance near the hops is left to complete, with some trimming and detail work to finish and sure things up for the season. We hope to remove the metal fence once the wattle fence gates are more pest-proof. The woven structure of the fence makes the garden look more authentic to the Renaissance and is visually pleasing. The wattle fence is an important step towards increased authenticity of the garden, which we strive for. Each time I’m in the garden people stop by and tell me how much they enjoy the new fence. It is a style not so common, or easy to find these days. The UMass Renaissance center certainly has a special historic gem to share with its wattle fence. Completing a wattle fence this size, by yourself and in just four months is certainly an accomplishment. Thank you for doing such a good job Aaron and we look forward to the final touches as you finish up this amazing fence.